Kerry,

I used to have a severe fear of falling. I used to have horrifying nightmares about falling. They say you should confront your fears, and that's exactly what I did in this case.

That first jump, when I climbed out of the balloon basket onto the jumping platform (a flat piece of metal not much larger than a automobile license plate), my legs were moving like a pair of sewing machines! You are supposed to do a swan dive to launch yourself from the platform. I just let go of the basket struts and fell forward. It wasn't pretty, but I got some serious air time. I fell, for what was to me, a long way down, and I didn't die!

Two weeks later I went back for another jump. I wanted to do it better this time. ...and I did, executing a perfect swan dive off the platform, my legs much less shaky that time.

A week after that, I went back for the "double" jump, the 220' free fall. This time I wanted jump first, when the balloon started to rise with me in it, I wanted to climb out on the platform before it was at a high enough altitude! The pilot had to calm me down, because I was very anxious to get in the air.

I haven't had a single nightmare about falling since I did those jumps. That was 10 years ago. For a few years, I could trigger a pretty massive adrenaline release in my body just by closing my eyes and visualizing that last jump! It is a rush!

Bob